அட்லாண்டா இந்துக்கோவிலுக்கு பொங்கும் பக்தர் வெள்ளம்

அட்லாண்டாவில் கட்டப்பட்டுள்ள புது இந்துக்கோவிலுக்கு தூர தூரங்களிலிருந்து இந்துக்களும் இந்துக்களாக விரும்புபவர்களும் இந்துக்களாக ஆனவர்களும் வந்துகொண்டே இருக்கிறார்கள்.

வாழ்க வளமுடன்
Hindu temple to draw crowd
By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/24/07

Religious chanting wafts through the sparse line of trees that separates the Dickens Trail neighborhood in Lilburn from one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States.

The seven-story wedding cake of a structure, with its lace-carved spires and arches of shimmering white limestone, dwarfs the neighborhood's modest frame houses.


NICK ARROYO/AJC
(ENLARGE)
The new Hindu temple in Liburn is designed to last the ages.

A SNAPSHOT OF HINDUISM

Hinduism is a diverse and complex religion with roots in India dating to 3,000 BCE. It is harder to categorize than Christianity, Islam or Judaism because it does not espouse a single doctrine.

It is the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. There are about 900 million Hindu adherents world wide.

An estimated 1.2 million live in the U.S.

According to a 2005 Census estimate, more than 66,000 Indians live in metro Atlanta.

If 80 percent are Hindu, which is the average percentage of the population in India, then about 53,000 Hindus live in the region.

Founder: There is no founder. Hinduism evolved through centuries and owes its beliefs to many teachers.


Belief in a higher power: Hindus may believe in one god who has many earthly incarcations in human and animal form or in many gods. So homes and temples may contain various images of the incarnations. A devotee may decide to worship one incarnation exclusively.

Hindus believe many paths can lead to God and salvation, including those of other religions and so are typically tolerant and do not evangelize.

Salvation: Hindus believe in reincarnation, that one dies and is reborn continuously until one finds salvation. To escape the cycle, one must let go of attachments to this world by right thinking and actions.

Actions produce karma, positive or negative results, that can keep one tied to earthly life and determine what being one will be reborn as.

Salvation, or a final release from this world, can be understood as being in God's presence or can be seen as the soul merging with God as a raindrop merges into the sea.

Hindus believe all living things have a spark of the divine within and many are vegetarian because of this belief.

Scriptures: Vedas are hymns, discourses and prayers and are considered authoritative and divinely inspired. Upanishads are discourses by the students of great gurus.

There are also law codes and epic stories from which truths can be drawn, such as the Bhagavad Gita. It is the story of a prince preparing for battle and being tutored by his charioteer Krishna, who is revealed as a divine being.

--Christopher Quinn



"They've been singing since Friday [a week ago]," said Cathy McCollister.

"I think it's pretty cool," said McCollister, who has lived in the neighborhood 28 years.

At the corner of Rockbridge Road and Lawrenceville Highway among Lilburn's strip malls, the 30,535 square foot temple evokes India's iconic treasure, the Taj Mahal.

"I'd rather there be a temple over there than a shopping center or a filling station," McCollister said.

The Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha sect of Hindusim will consecrate the temple this weekend. The sect is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its establishment in 1907 by guru Shastriji Maharaj.

Tens of thousands of Hindus from all over the U.S. are expected Sunday to hear the sect's guru, His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, bless the $19 million structure. The guru arrived from New Jersey last week by chartered plane and Rolls Royce.

Thousands of visitors have arrived in recent days. Women in brilliant pink, yellow and orange saris climbed the broad white steps of Turkish limestone to the temple. Children ran around the reflecting pool.

Building a temple requires attention to a million details. Laborers were brought from India. Volunteers gave an estimated 1.3 million construction hours.

In the last three weeks, more than 900 volunteers have worked virtually around the clock tending to last minute details. Carved swans appeared in the reflecting pool this week. Mexican workers were still busy with the air conditioning.

Throughout, temple builders have not neglected the neighborhood.

At Christmas, during construction, people from the temple distributed candy door to door.

"I thought it was awfully nice," said Joyce Russell, 57. "Very forthcoming."

A 14-year resident whose house abuts temple property, she's welcomes the temple for what it isn't.

"At least it's not a strip club," said Russell, who was worried that adult establishments on Jimmy Carter Boulevard would spread down Rockbridge Road into Lilburn.

"The temple has prevented that," she said. "I have no problem with places of worship."

But it's also not, at least not yet, a yoga center, which is a disappointment to some neighbors.

They saw yoga classes mentioned on the BAPS Web site and want to sign up. Some temples offer it, others don't, a temple spokesman said.

The Lilburn temple will focus on youth programs, including lessons on traditional Indian drums and Gujarati (the language of Gandhi, spoken by 46 million people), said spokesman Mitesh Patel. If there's demand, the temple may add yoga classes, he said.

"I've practiced yoga for four years," said Russell. "It's helped a lot with my blood pressure."

Another neighbor wonders when the noise will die down.

"Me, personally, I have no problem with anyone's religion," said Linda King, who has been house-sitting for a friend in the Dickens Trail neighborhood.

"But do you have to be so loud?" she said, nodding her head in the direction of a loud speaker, the source of a continuously droning voice speaking Gujarati.

King said it has been broadcasting 8:30 a.m. until after dark for three weekends in a row.

The new temple is the largest BAPS temple in the United States, ahead of structures in Houston and Chicago. It's larger than the traditional Hindu temple in Clayton County.

The Lilburn temple is 74 feet high and boasts 34,671 stones. Red and white flags signifying the triumph of good over evil will fly from its pinnacles.

Fifteen elephant heads with trunks of black fiberglass look out from the reflecting pool at the base of the temple, seeming to pause to sip from the pool. The elephant represents strength, worshipers say, and is a welcoming symbol.

The Turkish sandstone facade features small figurines with folded hands offering the traditional Hindu greeting 'Namaste' and bearing garlands and welcome lamps.

Inside, eight columns support a 7.3-ton keystone and dome; 16 figures represent the cardinal directions. Goddesses, including those embodying wealth and health, look down.

Kashyap Patel, a cardiologist from Flowery Branch, points to one column made of seven different pieces of stone fitted together with no fasteners or mortar. It took 1,725 work days to complete, said Patel, who has been a member of BAPS since he was a child.

"The symmetry is what absolutely blows my mind," he said.

The design of the temple and its carvings are based on the ancient Vedas, or Hindu scriptures.

Brahma, the creator of the universe, looks out from one gleaming white marble column, while Vishnu, the sustainer of the universe, stands on the next. Shiv, the destroyer of the universe, is nearby. The stone is the same favored by Michelangelo for his sculptures.

There's Hanumant, the monkey-god of total devotion, and Ganesh, the god who is half elephant. One figure stands in yoga's tree position.

The smell of sweet coconut, flowers, and rice burns in a container on the floor. Electric light shines from the columns, changing colors every few minutes, reflecting off the shiny stone.

"The temple encompasses all that is Hinduism," said Patel. "Tolerance, peace, love, and peaceful coexistence."

Since the swami arrived last week on his chartered plane at Peachtree DeKalb Airport, the temple complex has drawn thousands of visitors from all over the United States. Temple members estimate visitors have booked 1,000 hotel nights in the area.

The holy man arrived Thursday in a Rolls Royce covered with flowers. Lilburn Mayor Jack Bolton presented him the key to the city and received a blessing for the city.

Police, hired by the temple, have directed traffic on and off on Rockbridge Road, at the temple entrance, as pedestrians cross the street.

The Patel family drove five hours from Albemarle, N.C. to see the new temple Monday. They could only stay one day and planned to attend morning prayer services in a large white tent set up next to the temple.

"Since it's a new mandir [temple], everyone from all over the world is coming," said Ankita Patel, 15, dressed in a bright sari.


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